The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 409 Give me—soar to the sky!

"Should we stop Black Sakura's actions?" Lin Sheng's voice rang out in the principal's office.

The purpose behind Black Sakura's actions is very easy to guess.

She wants to use Kirei Kotomine's "historical inertia" to kill Black Alice, or conversely, use him to disrupt this "historical inertia".

“But Gilgamesh is with Kirei now.” Conan didn’t quite agree with Lin Sheng’s idea.

"The key is not whether or not to fight against the inertia of history."

"But what if we stop Kirei and the others? What about Saber and the Sea Demon?"

Currently, it seems that the Alliance's plan has not completely failed. Both Kiritsugu and Black Alice are subjectively trying to save it.

Conan points out that the biggest challenge in this problem lies in the uncertainty surrounding Sakura Kuroko.

"If we choose to abandon this route, then Black Sakura, who feels she is at a disadvantage, may change her plan and choose not to stop Saber at the Sea Demon's place."

What Saber embodies is on a completely different level from Kiritsugu, Black Alice, and others.

If she decides to cleave the Holy Grail, how can the League persuade her not to do so?
"What if we send Kirei and Archer to the Mihana Bridge?" Lin Sheng asked.

Using the computer connected to the monitoring system in the office, Conan roughly calculated the RSI value changes at the point where two different "historical inertia" were currently clashing.

"They probably won't make it that far."

Conan doesn't think that Kirei or Gilgamesh could survive under these circumstances.

"Moreover, once we reach the neutral zone on the other side of the bridge, Black Sakura will likely be able to display her ability to devour [Heroic Spirits]."

"Even if we take into account that Gilgamesh might be able to use his Noble Phantasm, the odds of winning are still too small."

"Furthermore, it seems that Kiritsugu has expanded the scope of his origin effect by breaking through the boundaries of his character design."

Conan will project the timeline he arbitrarily cut and pieced together, along with its corresponding features, onto the side.

"With the help of the [Research Department], and by dispatching special task forces to handle related matters, we might be able to adapt to or even make use of it."

"But I don't think Kirei or Gilgamesh could quickly develop the relevant spacetime theory in a short period of time."

Therefore, the only feasible method is...

Conan paused, then turned to look at Lin Sheng.

"Perhaps the only option is to send Irisviel, who is currently in the consultation room, and another Matou Sakura."

Lin Sheng did not immediately agree to Conan's suggestion.

This solution does indeed seem perfect—

However, it requires ignoring the other two routes in different directions, which will therefore be abandoned.

If you choose to win in a local battle, you're putting all your eggs in one basket in the overall strategy.

Can a local victory lead to a decisive one?
From this perspective, the answer is quite obvious.

Lin Sheng ultimately decided to proceed with the original plan.

If Kiritsugu and Illya are currently suffering heavy losses, it wouldn't be difficult for them to decide to abandon this path.

But given the current situation, is there really no chance at all?
"Lin Sheng." Conan's expression was very serious.

"This is not a gamble. If Black Sakura or Black Alice succeeds in the end, all our plans will have to be brought forward."

"I know." Lin Sheng was well aware of what would happen if the entire plan were brought forward.

But it was just a hair's breadth away from success.

He added, "I reminded Kiritsugu of many things before he left."

"Judging from the extent to which Kiritsugu broke through his character's boundaries, and the fact that he didn't fire immediately, he already understood this."

“As long as he doesn’t fire and delays Kirei and Archer’s arrival at the meeting place, then the ‘historical inertia’ will remain stuck there.”

Conan did not immediately refute.

He closed his eyes and carefully went through the fragments on the timeline in his mind several times.

"The key is whether Ilya can wake up—she is capable of firing a gun, because that's outside the realm of [inertia]."

"Furthermore, it depends on how well Kiritsugu and Black Alice cooperate. If he chooses to poison her instead of shooting her, there is still room for maneuver."

Therefore, the question returns to whether or not to place their trust in Kiritsugu and Illya.

Neither Lin Sheng nor Conan could jump directly into the center of the vortex.

They also cannot use a large number of CYZ effects to directly untangle the timeline that Kiritsugu has already messed up.

Lin Sheng gave a wry smile.

"To leave it to...fate?"

"This is really...it makes me uneasy at all..."

Lin Sheng sighed, but in the end he still did not make the decision to "give up Kiritsugu and Illya".

"Since the Alliance has chosen them to carry out the plan, and they have joined the Alliance, the Alliance must give its trust and bear the possible costs that trust may bring."

"In any case, the situation is not yet at its worst, and it even has an advantage for us."

That's true.

The real reason Lin Sheng and Conan kept discussing whether or not to decisively cut off this route was their concern that such uncertainty would affect other plans.

"We can only try to secure as many favorable conditions as possible."

After taking a look at the current movements of all parties, Lin Sheng gave orders to the other personnel who could take action.

"Notify Merlin to do everything he can to prevent Black Sakura's direct attack and keep her on the other side of the bridge."

"Let Sakura fight Black Sakura for control of the Black Mud. At the very least, delay Kirei and Gilgamesh's arrival at the meeting hall."

"Then Conan, you should make the most of the time flow that Kiritsugu disrupted, and ideally, kill the two pursuers right there in Beika Town!"

At this moment, Lin Sheng's words revealed an imposing aura that commanded respect without anger.

"Since the Alliance promised Kiritsugu Emiya that they would definitely buy him thirty minutes of time."

"We absolutely must make room for these thirty minutes!"

……

As a result, Kirei and Gilgamesh got lost.

They are lost in the intricate web of time and space, wandering aimlessly through a history pieced together at random.

This may be a coincidence, or it may not be a coincidence at all.

Shinichi Kudo became Conan in 1994, and the Holy Grail War also took place in 1994.

But what would happen if we followed this mental image originating from Conan Edogawa and escaped through that convoluted and bizarre timeline?

"Archer! Drive faster! Faster! Those guys are catching up!"

Lin Sheng and Conan's reasoning is quite good.

Now, Kirei and Gilgamesh are walking through the town of Beika, which was once like hell.

The gleaming gold motorcycle had become somewhat dull, its surface covered with scars from battles fought in the hail of bullets.

The ability to transform into a flying shuttle and disappear into rivers seems to have been damaged from too many uses.

Kirei never imagined that this city would be built like this—explosions everywhere, gunshots echoing all around.

The woods were full of all sorts of traps.

Archer initially treated the inferior, rusty mechanisms with disdain.

But if Kirei hadn't reacted quickly and used the black key to deflect the incoming arrow...

Now Gilgamesh will have an extra "horn" on his forehead.

However, the holes in the golden armor and the wood used to fill them still indicated that the situation was far from optimistic.

The arrow was still embedded in Archer's shoulder, and Kirei didn't even have time to bandage it.

He simply used another black stick to cut off the arrow shafts from the outside of the armor.

"Don't pull out that arrow, Kirei, cut it off with the black key," Gilgamesh said at the time.

"The arrowhead was coated with cyanide. If you pull it out, it proves that I was really hit by an arrow."

Clearly, in this chaotic spacetime, the omniscient and omnipotent star can still occasionally play a role.

Most importantly, while being chased by the ghost-like shadow behind him, this arrogant and domineering king finally came to his senses.

Those seemingly crude and illogical traps were able to achieve effects far beyond what the Heroic Spirits and Magicians had anticipated.

Stone arrowheads can pierce through divine armor;

A rope made of grass can trip up a divine rider;
Wooden doorframes can hinder divine weapons.

The swords, spears, and halberds that were shot out turned into ordinary iron and weapons upon contact with those objects.

Uruk's axe king's swings could only shake the trees or prune some branches and leaves.

Weapons like swords and spears would only serve as obstacles in this dense forest.

Fortunately, if they were facing significant obstacles, the two pursuers behind them were facing even greater ones.

The motorcycle that Gilgamesh ordered from Professor Agasa has done a great job!
Except for the fact that I almost overturned at the very beginning.

With the help of the motorcycle's jet propulsion and gliding capabilities, Kirei and Archer can briefly leap over many obstacles that Assassin and Kotomine Ryougi would struggle to overcome.

It also has the deep-diving capability originally intended for transformation into a small submarine—

Those seemingly transparent glass barriers can withstand the water pressure at depths of tens of thousands of meters below the sea.

After his initial carelessness, Archer immediately raised the "protective shield".

Nowadays, most attacks can only leave a white dot on it.

"boom--"

But this absolutely does not include large-caliber artillery shells, or concentrated fire from anti-aircraft machine gun positions loaded with special ammunition.

……

In Black Sakura's view, she would rather return to the "future" environment, which greatly restricts her.

Dealing with those two damned guys in this "Beihana Town" would be far more detrimental than beneficial to her. It would be much better if she could just control the Assassin's body to fight, like she used to.

After investing a significant amount of [limit-breaking power], she could have simply used the black mud to burn the entire forest to ashes, or even flood it with an ocean of black mud.

"Damn these editing requests!"

After discovering that this change had actually brought her a disadvantage, Black Sakura was on the verge of becoming furious.

"Why is there a trace of 'editing matters' here too?!"

This was discovered when Black Sakura used black mud to burn down the first annoying tree that was blocking her way.

That [limit-breaking power] actually acted on two different points in time at the same time.

In addition to destroying the barriers in this spacetime, she also needs to use the [Power of Limit Break] to simultaneously destroy the forest in the same location in the "future spacetime".

Clearly, Kiritsugu's division of "one universe" and Conan's deduction of the sameness of "one universe" have created a very magical "chemical reaction".

These two universes must eventually coincide at a point in time other than "now".

However, the "historical inertia" must also ensure that this contradiction does not occur, otherwise Lin Sheng and Conan will have to breathe a sigh of relief.

If the past of two universes is inconsistent, Conan can take advantage of the characteristic in the [loop] that "the last [timeline] that is overwritten is the 'original'" to directly revert to the universe that he is not satisfied with.

Conan can even do this back and forth.

Similar to stepping on his right foot to ascend to heaven, he can repeatedly and alternately exploit the contradictions of another universe, rewinding until the moment Black Sakura did so.

In fact, if Black Sakura were to delve into the origins of this "Compilation Matters" here...

Perhaps she will discover part of the meaning of "historical inertia" and then realize the purpose of the "alliance".

Unfortunately, after realizing that doing so was consuming power at almost double the rate, Black Sakura immediately stopped her attempt to directly kill Kirei and his companion.

Instead, she began to use the identity assigned to her by this universe to gain an advantage in this "time-space chase" that might not end anytime soon.

Since they are now clashing in the "past," there is naturally no need to worry about the issue of "time."

Clearly, this is the second mistake that Black Sakura has made.

……

During their escape, Gilgamesh was responsible for sitting in the driver's seat and dodging incoming missiles and arrows.

Meanwhile, Kirei sat in the machine gun position at the rear of the motorcycle, using the air cannon to propel the vehicle into a brief glide and to fire short bursts at the attackers behind him.

Gilgamesh and Kirei Kotomine—now they have reached a "master-servant" pact in a strange way.

This begins with the fact that the two people's perspectives are not compatible.

"Archer, Assassin has betrayed me now!"

After narrowly avoiding Assassin's thrown dagger, Kirei couldn't help but roar.

He was now in a similarly dire situation—the traps Archer faced, after failing several times, were quickly improved upon.

Anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines...

Even trenches formed by pits, barricades, and barbed wire, and a small surface-to-air missile!
No matter how much protection is provided to the glass dome, in Dr. Agasa's common sense, it is only for underwater sightseeing and cannot possibly stop missiles that explode at close range.

The two obviously need time to communicate.

At first, Gilgamesh would refer to himself as "the King" and would even try his best to avoid the situation on his own rather than seek help.

but now--

"Here we go again! Kirei, fire two shots to the right!"

Gripping the handlebars tightly, Gilgamesh's eyes flashed with madness as he twisted the throttle to its maximum and pressed the button for the jet engine.

Two loud "Bang! Bang!" sounds followed.

The golden motorcycle moved like lightning, performing incredible maneuvers in the air.

It flashed across the sky above the forest, tracing a "Z" shape.

But the danger is not over yet; in fact, it is only the beginning.

The loud noise of the air cannon also meant exposing their position in the dense forest.

“Get down—!!!”

Without Gilgamesh having to utter a sound, Kirei immediately and habitually lay down at the back of the carriage.

Even during this rapid warp, Gilgamesh kept his eyes fixed on a distant location—the location of the abandoned pharmaceutical factory on the outskirts of Beika Town.

He now knew that it must be the pursuers' stronghold.

Or rather, it was a stronghold of the Black Organization.

Gilgamesh gripped the handlebars with one hand to control the direction, turning the vehicle to a distance where no tree trunks had fallen.

Even if this might be an enemy tactic, he has no choice but to jump in now, otherwise, if he is ambushed while crossing the pit, death will come immediately.

The gust of wind that swept across his face felt like a knife, but Gilgamesh still dared not blink.

With his other hand, he placed two fingers on the buttons for "folding up the hang glider" and "deploying the diving mask".

The moment he saw the "artillery position" ablaze, he immediately pressed two buttons hard and simultaneously slammed the front of the vehicle down.

The glass dome reflected the luster of the white clouds, as well as the flashes of artillery shells or rockets that came hurtling towards them with their tail flames.

The motorcycle, like a silver bullet, crashed into the treetop with a clattering sound as it swept upwards from the ground, shattering the treetop and disappearing into the forest.

What followed was a shockwave from a massive barrage of artillery fire that shook the entire forest.

After several such terrible dangers occurred, Archer immediately abandoned Tokiomi and signed a new contract with Kirei.

It's fortunate that Tokiomi is already dead; otherwise, whether this desperate, last-ditch effort would have been effective is debatable.

In short, after Gilgamesh shared his vision with Kirei, and Kirei shared his "intuition" from his "soul" with Gilgamesh.

What was originally a perilous situation now only appears to be extremely dangerous.

Whether it's Kirei or Gilgamesh.

The two seemed to merge into one, becoming a tool that relied on "intuition" and "instinct" to calculate and evade the increasingly urgent and frequent attacks.

Black Sakura's mistake was creating this sense of "peril lurking everywhere" and "extreme danger."

When has the Black Organization ever succeeded in its pursuit of the Detective?

However, in Black Sakura's opinion, even Kirei and Gilgamesh themselves think so—

They have only managed to survive until now because of luck and because their enemies want to force them in one direction.

……

Even the most sheltering forests eventually come to an end.

"Kiri," Gilgamesh said with a satisfied smile, "there's an open space ahead."

He now fully acknowledges the guy's resilience and his interesting "soul".

Now, a strange light flickers in those blood-red eyes.

Without the cover of the dense forest, can I still hide?
But as a king, one must do what one's subjects cannot do and bear responsibilities that one's subjects cannot bear.

Faced with such a desperate situation, Gilgamesh remained calm as never before.

Yes, his own treasure trove can now only produce those "ordinary iron and ordinary weapons".

But if you only link them together into a chain.

Only using the physical entities formed during the brief moments of weapon air superiority as support...

During this long chase, Jin Shanshan had become one with the motorcycle, almost able to control it as if it were his own arm.

His words revealed a madness as intense as his blood-red pupils.

"Are you ready to soar to the heavens, Kirei?"

Kirei Kotomine immediately understood what Archer meant.

If we can't walk on the ground, then we'll walk in the sky!

Perhaps this church representative also harbored a kind of madness within him.

A smile involuntarily appeared on Kirei's lips.

“Archer, I will keep an eye on the rear for you,” he replied to Gilgamesh’s suggestion.

And so, accompanied by the overwhelming shockwave of the explosion behind them, in the blinding flames—

"Whoosh-!"

A golden light traveled along an extremely thin silver line toward the sky.

At this very moment, Gilgamesh and Kirei Kotomine soared into the sky aboard the Z-Wheel!

……

Outside of Conan's [Realistic Marble].

It's hard to believe that the renowned [Gemstone Elder] would look so pale now.

“Zelrich,” the supreme being said, “I need your help.”

"I can't break through my—"

"Don't worry, I won't let you do that, because you are Rin's master after all."

[Emiya Shirou] spoke very calmly.

“I have already chosen the outcome, so you only need to use [Second Magic] to take a look at me.”

Ignoring the inner struggle of [Jewel Spirit], Emiya looked directly at Aozaki Aoko, who was cowering like a quail.

"You can't see me...you can't see me...you can't see me..."

Aozaki Aoko is desperately trying to jump back to the past, or rather, to another branch.

However, Shirou Emiya gave a somewhat amiable smile.

"[Fifth Magician], what a coincidence, I've been looking for you too."

"This should be the first time we've met?"

(End of this chapter)